The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL

by Bill Parcells

As unflinching, candid, and tough as the man himself, The Final Season is Bill Parcell's swan song as head coach in the NFL. During 1999, a grueling, difficult season, Parcell's found his resolve and coaching ability tested at every turn. It wasn't supposed to be like that, though. The two-time champion coach who had guided two different teams to the Super Bowl was expected by fans and pundits to drive the New York jets all the way. After all, they had reached the AFC Championship the year before. But fate would not allow it. In the preseason, respected and longtime owner Leon Hess died, casting a season-long pall of uncertainty over the organization. During training camp, two players were arrested after a bar fight. In the final game of the preseason, Wayne Chrebet one of their top receivers, was injured. Then a huge blow-in the season opener Vinny Testaverde, the Pro Bowl quarterback, ruptured his Achilles tendon and was out for the year. Things grew progressively worse-at one point Parcells had lost nine starters. He also endured personal suffering when his dear friend and agent Robert Fraley died in the same plane crash that killed Payne Stewart. Parcells struggled to keep his team on track, trying to maintain their confidence in the face of enormous odds. "When you're losing, you coach better. You're on top of every detail. You scrutinize yourself, your coaches, your players, and the system you're using." He became his own fiercest "No matter how long you have coached, no matter how many games you have won, no matter how many playoff games, conference championships, Super Bowls you've won, it's all irrelevant. You are not winning now and that's what counts. You think you suck. You are a loser as a coach." Things hit rock bottom when the team went 1-6. But
Parcells the coaches, and the players would not lie down. "If you don't play to win, then you shouldn't play at all." Parcells called up every strategic and motivational ploy he could dream up, and through sheer force of will and a great amount of pride, the jets won seven of their last nine games. In The Final Season , readers will not only get an unsparing look inside one of football's greatest minds and a champion's philosophy but also Parcells frank take on good owners; his battles with "owner-operators"; the greatest "warriors" he's coached for and against; the players who are "dogs"; the game's most challenging coaches; and his seasons with the Giants and the Patriots. Parcells also provides the reasons for retiring from coaching as well as his perspective on Bill Belichick's controversial resignation and eventual departure for New England. A rare, behind-the-scenes football memoir, The Final Season brims with insights and revelations, a testament to a great competitor and future Hall of Famer.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction, Autobiography

235 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[David Nazzaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars.

This book is a snap shot of Parcells' last season as Jets head coach. Likely, this book was put together very fast, and cheaply and this may even be a first and only draft. Reads like he talked into a recording devise, had it transcribed, edited and then published. It is very dated. But it is a snap shot into a particular team, season and time in Parcells career. This book is a missed opportunity. Parcells does provide some real insights, but he does not go deep into them. That is a shame.

[Mike Bender · Rating 2 out of 5]

Add a 1/2 star if you're a Parcells fan. Not an exciting read, and not much insight into Parcells or, frankly, the team or season. You figure a book with the title The Final Season would be more comprehensive, but it's not much more than stream-of-consciousness in a chronological order with a few interesting pieces here and there. Probably better to read at release - his assessment of Al Groh and Woody Johnson did not age well. But his thoughts on injured reserve and replay review were ahead of their time.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

there are a few highlights but overall it was an average read.

the majority of the book is Bill retelling the season from his point of view but the book offers little insight into his thinking.

a better read is his autobiography Parcels

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining insight from the Big Tuna - better than his press conferences. Too bad McDonough isn't around to write the story of the subsequent Final Seasons.

[Steven]

Great stories from an old school rough and tumble football coach. Ironic title. Coach is one of those guys who has "it" in his blood.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Final Season was a journalistic rehashing of the New York Jets' 1999 season. It was a trip reading a book like this because it was written by a man who was the head coach of the '99 Jets, Bill Parcells. This is the second book I ever read in which a head coach wrote a journal-type book on a particular football season.

Every historical NFL football fan knows that the '99 season was not Parcells' last season coaching an NFL team as he ended up returning to the NFL in 2003 to coach the Dallas Cowboys, but at the time this book was published no one knew that. Back in the 1990s and 2000s decades, Parcells was famous or rather infamous for his frequent retirement announcements. But to his credit he ended up retiring for good after the 2006 season, his third year as the head coach of the Cowboys.

Aside from the title of the book and its premise, The Final Season was a solid book on a season that had so much promise to it before injuries to key players stepped in.

Some of the elements of this book that I appreciated was that Parcells really showed his true feelings about how much the injury to QB Vinny Testaverde in Week 1 of the season really hurt this team. I also appreciated how much he respected WR Keyshawn Johnson when it was the popular thing at the time (the mid to late 1990s) to dismiss the receiver as a loud-mouth and a brash malcontent. And I also liked how Parcells was truthful about how he felt about the 1999 Jets free agents that were supposed to help the team but who turned to be busts or over the hill in TE Eric Green, FS Steve Atwater, and QB Rick Mirer.

One of the things that gave this book a poignant touch was the chapter (The Death of Leon Hess, pages 25-31) dedicated to the late Leon Hess who owned the Jets from 1984 to 1998. Parcells expressed his gratitude to Hess as well as sorrow when the owner passed away four months before the '99 season started.

Going back to the title of this book as well as the book's premise, so many times Parcells discussed things that bothered him about the '99 Jets and why he wanted to step away from the game after the season. And those discussions are what helped to drive this book or make it a page turner. His candid feelings about certain players on the '99 Jets and the season as a whole was so refreshing to read.

And lastly on page 194, I really liked how Parcells used a whole paragraph to express his appreciation for RB Curtis Martin who along with the before mentioned Johnson, carried the '99 Jets offense as well as their hopes for a respectable season.

In conclusion, The Final Season was Parcells' 235-page analysis of the 1999 Jets. The book wasn't anything special, but it was a page turner partly because Parcells was candid and forthcoming about how he felt about the 1999 Jets.

[Diane]

The book is based on a true story. At times I was bogged down by the writing, overall I found this a good read. The author does an interesting job of describing the final year of a major coach in the NFL. If anything could go wrong, it did that year. I am not into sports that much, but found this book engaging.

[Mark Nessing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, blunt take on Parcell's disasterous final season with the Jets.

[Daniel Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. I was always a big fan of Will McDonough's work.